Heaven and Hell
by N17E2000
Summary: Two-shot. Goku meets his mother in Otherworld.
1. Chapter 1

King Kai glared at the man sitting across from him. Goku had been uncharacteristically distracted for a couple days, and now the Saiyan was staring at his bowl of rice, moving grains around with his chopsticks absently. If he wasn't already dead, King Kai would've been worried he were dying.

His blue faced scrunched up in anger. "Alright Goku!" he yelled, jolting the man from his reverie, "I've had it with you!"

"Wha..what did I do?" Goku looked at him wide-eyed.

"What's wrong with you?! You've been moping around for days. Snap out of it!" King Kai took a deep breath, calming himself. The boy looked forlorn now, and he felt sorry for him. "What's the matter with you?" he said in a gentler tone.

Goku sighed, his warm dark eyes falling back to his half-full bowl. "Well, I've been thinking," he said. "It's been really fun meeting all these great fighters from all over the place. I've learned a lot, really!" He smiled at his Otherwordly mentor. "But I was kinda hoping maybe I could fight some Saiyans."

It had been just over a year since Goku had been killed by Cell, and time had flown by for the warrior. Rebuilding King Kai's planet had taken a longer time than either of them had imagined, mostly because Goku was supremely unhelpful – his talents lay more in breaking than building. Besides, they'd taken a lot of breaks to tour Heaven and meet and fight the warriors there. But recently they'd settled down on the newly rebuilt planet and Goku had a lot more free time on his hands. King Kai had tried to teach him to drive. It had not gone well.

King Kai pursed his lips. "I don't know what to tell you Goku. There's just not any Saiyans in Heaven. Surely you don't want to go down to Hell to meet them, do you?"

"Oh come on King Kai!" Goku exclaimed. "They can't all be in Hell, can they? There must be at least a couple in Heaven. I know the Saiyans weren't nice people" – King Kai's eyes rolled behind his dark glasses – "but there must have been a few good ones. What about that guardian you told me about?"

King Kai sighed wearily. He had a feeling that this was about more than just Goku's desire for a good fight.

"Alright Goku," King Kai said after a few moments, "I'll tell you what. Just because I like you, I'll ask around and see if I can find you some Saiyans."

A huge, goofy smile broke across Goku's face. "Alright!" Goku yelled excitedly, launching himself at King Kai and wrapping him in a big bear hug. "You're the best King Kai!"

"Okay, okay," King Kai smiled as he patted an elbow awkwardly. "But don't get your hopes up!"

* * *

"Oh Goku!" King Kai called out. He was standing near his planet's only tree, hands behind his back and a self-satisfied smile on his face. It had been a few days since Goku had asked the Kai to find him a Saiyan who'd managed to make it to Heaven, and he had some good news to report.

Within a few seconds, the Saiyan came bouncing up. "Yes King Kai?"

"Have I got a surprise for you!" King Kai giggled mischievously.

"What is it King Kai?"

"Here, come see for yourself." The Kai offered his shoulder, and Goku placed a firm broad hand on it.

Immediately, Goku found himself looking at a familiar sight. "Hey!" he said. "It's grandpa! And it looks like he's made a new lady friend."

Sure enough, there was his grandpa Gohan, talking to a young woman with black, shoulder-length hair and dark eyes.

Goku smiled. The only thing that had kept him sane after he'd realized that he'd been the one to kill his grandpa when he'd unknowingly trampled him in his Great Ozaru form was the knowledge that his grandpa wasn't angry at him, and that he was having a good time in Otherworld.

"But what's the surprise King Kai? I've seen grandpa plenty of times since I got here." He'd also met several of his lady friends – for a mild-mannered old man, his grandpa sure got around.

" _That's_ not the surprise, Goku." King Kai said. "It's the woman with him. Look at her closely."

Goku squinted at the image in his mind. The woman was laughing at something his grandpa had just said. He was pretty sure he'd never seen her before, and yet somehow she seemed familiar.

Suddenly, he saw it. "Hey, she has a tail! She's a Saiyan!" Goku pumped his fists in the air. "Alright! See King Kai, I told you there had to be some Saiyans in Heaven!"

"Yes, but this isn't just any Saiyan Goku." King Kai turned to him, his voice serious. "Goku, stop jumping!"

Goku settled down, his smile faltering a bit. What could possibly be wrong? The Saiyan woman was in Heaven, so she must be good. Why did King Kai look so serious?

"Goku," King Kai said evenly. "That woman is your mother."

* * *

Goku was sitting at the table in King Kai's house, his chin in his hands. King Kai was telling him about his mother and how she'd ended up in Heaven.

Goku had always been the type of person who lived in the present. He had, of course, thought a few times about his parents, what they might have been like. But there'd been so much else to take care of after his brother had shown up: the rapidly approaching Saiyans and the threat to Earth, the trip to Namek, his altercations with the Ginyu force and Frieza, his time in space – there was just no time to really dwell on the issue. When he did find himself thinking about his parents, he would always dismiss the thoughts. What was the point really? They were dead, and probably hadn't been very nice when they were alive if Raditz was anything to go by. Besides, he had Chi Chi and Gohan whom he loved very much, and that was all the family he needed.

But now, King Kai was saying that he could actually meet his mother.

"Gine" – that was her name, _his mother's name_ – "was not very strong for a Saiyan, and she wasn't really cut out for a warrior's life," King Kai was saying. "But she came from a poor family, so she signed up to fight for Frieza. Fighters were paid really well you see, and the position was a prestigious one.

"I won't lie to you Goku, your mother did some terrible things fighting for Frieza. She killed a lot of innocent people with the other Saiyans. But," King Kai raised a finger, "your mother was different from most other Saiyans, and really most other people if you want the truth. For most people, the more they kill the easier it gets. But for your mother, the more crimes she committed, the more they wore at her soul. Her guilt grew so much that she started to lose her nerve in battle, and she probably would have been killed several times if it weren't for…" King Kai paused, wondering if he should tell Goku about his father, but decided against it. "Anyway," he continued, "one day your mother's troupe got orders to depopulate a planet in the far end of the galaxy. The inhabitants were known to be a peaceful people with limited battle skills – they wouldn't stand a chance against a group of Saiyans.

"Your mother agonized over the order for days. She knew she couldn't do it, but even more than that, she couldn't allow it to happen. So," Goku leaned in closer, his eyes wide, "the night before her troupe was due to be sent, she broke into the communications control room in the Operations Base and sent a message to the planet warning of them of what was coming." King Kai paused again. There were a lot of technical details here, how Gine had hacked into the control server using an ID chip she'd stolen from a guard earlier that day, how most planets that were aware of extraterrestrial life had a central system that could send and receive messages from other planets and spaceships, which is how Gine had contacted the planet in question. He could tell Goku all of this stuff, but frankly he was surprised that the boy seemed to be following along with story as it was, and he didn't think it was a good idea to make it even more complicated.

 _Besides,_ King Kai thought, _what if he asks me a question about how these systems all work? I won't be able to answer it! That would be embarrassing._

"Well," he went on, "because the planet was so far away, it took the Saiyans a couple days to get there. And when they arrived, whaddya know! The planet was completely abandoned."

A huge smile broke out on Goku's face. "They got her message!"

King Kai smiled at his protégé. "Yes, exactly. The planet's leader was able to evacuate the entire population, resettling his people on another planet far from Frieza's reach. And so your mother saved an entire race from a horrible fate."

"And that's why she's in Heaven?"

"Yes, but it isn't just that." King Kai poured himself a cup of water; all this talking was making him thirsty. "Your mother wasn't very good with technology. She knew enough to get her into the communications room and send a message, but not enough to be able to erase the record of that message. Your mother knew that when they arrived at the planet, her…troupe leader would file a report saying that the planet was abandoned. There would be an inquiry, and eventually someone would find the record of the message she had sent. When that happened, she'd be tried for treason and killed." King Kai paused. "Your mother knew all this. She sacrificed her life to save those people. That's why she's in Heaven."

"But I thought my mother died when Planet Vegeta was blown up?"

"She did," King Kai said. "But only because she got lucky. Her troupe leader," he coughed, "figured out what she'd done. So instead of sending a report from his space pod like he was supposed to, he waited until they returned to their base. Then he got his brother, who was really good with technology, to break into the communications room and erase the evidence.

"After that your mother requested to be sent back to Planet Vegeta, and she spent the rest of her days living in peace."

"Gosh," Goku breathed. His hands fell to the table, his head lifting. "That's…wow. I don't know what to say I guess." He smiled. "I'm really happy she did that. And that she's in Heaven where I can see her."

"Well, that's the other thing I want to talk to you about." King Kai leaned back in his chair. "You see Goku, your mother was raised in a very different environment with very different expectations. When she sent the message that saved those people, she believed she was betraying her own kind. She saw herself as weak because she didn't enjoy fighting and killing.

"That's where your grandpa Gohan comes in."

Goku's eyes widened suddenly. "Does grandpa know who she is?"

"No, not yet," King Kai said. "But he told her all about you, and she told him that you must've been a Saiyan."

So, wait," Goku's brows furrowed, "I'm confused. She knows he's my grandpa?"

"No," King Kai said, glaring. "They don't know about you at all. But your grandpa Gohan has been helping your mother to understand that kindness is a strength, not a weakness, and that she deserves to be in Heaven." He sighed. "It's been hard work."

"Oh, I get it," Goku said. "She thinks like Vegeta does."

"Exactly."

"So," Goku said nervously, "you don't think I should meet her?"

"I think we need to approach her carefully. It's gonna be a shock for her to see you, you know. She hasn't seen you since you were a baby, and she may not understand a lot of the choices you've made during your time on Earth."

Goku nodded. "We should talk to grandpa," he said, getting up. "He can introduce me." He paused for a moment, then gave the Kai a hopeful look. "What about my dad?"

"He's in Hell. Sorry Goku," King Kai looked at him apologetically. "He did some good things in his life – by Saiyan standards, he was a good man. But unfortunately, the bad outweighed the good."

Goku nodded. "And her leader? The one who helped her?"

King Kai smiled. His boy was so innocent, and there was so much of his own background he didn't know. One day, King Kai would tell him everything about his family and his people.

But not today. "His fate was pretty much the same as your father's."

Goku sighed. It was disappointing, but he supposed it couldn't be helped.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hello Gine."

The young woman looked up to smile at the elderly man standing over her. The human man from the planet Earth was her only companion in this place called Heaven.

This was supposed to be her reward. The blue creature with the horns and a clipboard had explained to her that she had been good during her life in the mortal realm, and that was why she was being sent to this place, where she was supposed to spend an eternity in bliss.

"You can have anything you want here," he'd told her. "All you have to do is ask."

But it wasn't true. At least, not entirely. When she asked for things, just thought of them, they appeared out of thin air. But when she'd asked for her husband, her parents, her sister and brother, her children, her friends…

They were somewhere else, a place called Hell, being punished for their 'sins.'

It had taken a long time for the blue creature to explain what was going on to her. Saiyans had not known about Heaven and Hell. They believed in gods, who controlled the rain and the flows of the rivers, who gave strength to the soil to raise crops, who wrote out the fates of all mortals in the universe. They believed especially in the Great Moon, the most powerful god of all, who had given them the power to defeat the Tuffles during the Great War long ago.

But the idea that the gods cared about how you behaved in the mortal realm? That was a concept that was entirely foreign to Gine. Saiyans didn't qualify deeds as being good or bad – there was only strength and weakness. The strong ruled over the weak as was only natural, and the weak had to accept whatever the strong decreed. _That_ was what you could be punished for: weakness.

Gine was weak. She'd known it since she was a child. If anyone deserved punishment it was her. And in a way, she was being punished. She had never been more alone in her life than she was in Heaven.

Gohan sat down next to her in the grass. "I'm sorry I didn't come to see you yesterday. My grandson came to visit me."

Gine smiled at him – he'd told her quite a bit about his grandson, including the part where the boy had accidentally killed him. "And how is Goku these days?"

Gohan laughed. "As well as a dead man can be, I suppose. Actually, I told him about what you'd suggested, that he was one of your people sent to destroy my planet."

Gine's frowned at him. "Oh Gohan, I didn't mean for you to tell him! I just thought you'd be interested to know where he came from."

"Well as it turns out, he already knew." Gine's eyes widened with surprise and interest. He took her hand gently. "Gine, I want you to listen carefully. This is going to be a bit of a surprise." He took a deep breath. "When Goku was in his 20s, many years after I'd died, a Saiyan man came to Earth looking for him. The man told him he was his brother. His name was Raditz."

Gine's mouth opened in surprise. Finally, she said, "I have a son named Raditz."

"Yes," Gohan squeezed her hand, "and you had another son too."

"Kakarot," she breathed. "Oh gods, are you saying…"

"He would really like to see you Gine."

Gine covered her mouth with hands and shut her eyes tights, trying to stop the sobs from coming. But when the elderly man moved closer to her, putting his arms around her, she fell onto his chest and wept like a child.

* * *

To say that the mother-son reunion was emotional would have been an understatement. When Goku had emerged from where he'd been carefully hiding, he and his mother had stood staring at each other for what seemed like hours. Then suddenly, Gine had launched herself at the man, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his neck, inhaling his scent.

"It's really you," she whispered as he hugged her back. "My baby boy, my little Kakarot." She pulled away to look at him, cupping his face in her hands. "You look just like your father."

Goku smiled. "Really?" he laughed. "Must've been a good-looking guy!"

Tears shone in Gine's eyes as wrapped him in a hug again.

Finally, the woman had managed to pry herself away from her son, and now mother and son were sitting under a tree. Gine was cradling Goku in her arms, an awkward position since the man had a good six inches on her. Nevertheless, the mother refused to let him go.

"Tell me everything about you," she said as she petted his dark hair. "I want to know everything that's ever happened to you, as far back as you can remember."

"Gosh," Goku said, looking up at her. "That's gonna take a really long time."

"My understanding is that we have all of eternity."

And so Goku told her everything, about his peaceful, happy life with his grandpa Gohan, how abruptly it had ended, how Bulma had come into his life out of nowhere and turned it upside down, Master Roshi and Krillin, his face-off with King Piccolo, and, eventually…

"My gods," she said quietly. "Raditz did all that to you? How…how could he do that to his own brother?"

Goku sat up a little. "It's okay…it all worked out eventually, really."

Gine shook her head, tears rolling down her cheek. "No." She grabbed his hand, squeezing tightly. "I want you to know that we…we're not like that. Tha…That's not how Saiyans behave…"

Goku nodded. "I understand, really. I know that Frieza made you guys fight, made you violent…"

Gine laughed despite her tears, a sound that tinkled like music in Goku's ears. "Oh my love, Frieza didn't make us _fight_.That's not what I meant at all." She rubbed his hand between her own. "Saiyans have been fighting since the day the very first one pushed himself out from the soil."

This was the Saiyan theory of evolution – that they'd started as seeds and small plants embedded deep within the red soil of Planet Vegeta, before they finally pushed themselves up and out by their roots, as it were, to roam the surface.

"No," she continued, "what I meant was that we…we are loyal. To each other. We don't turn on our own kind, and especially not on our own flesh and blood.

"I don't know why Raditz did what he did to you and your little boy. He…," she paused, the words catching in her throat. "Maybe it was growing up under Frieza, without any Saiyans to guide him..." She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. There were so many things she'd do differently now, if only she'd known about all of this, about any of it, how short her time would be, about Heaven and Hell, how she would never see her family again.

"It's my fault, I wasn't there to teach him properly. They…they took him from me…," her voice caught as tears streamed down her red face. "Whe…when he was just a baby, and then y…you," her body trembled with the effort of keeping her tears under control. "I…I shou…shouldn't have let th…them…," finally she broke, covering her face with her hands and her whole body shook with the force of her sobs.

Now it was Goku's turn to hold her, wrapping his large arms around her small frame and rubbing her back gently as she cried against him. "It's okay mom," he shushed gently, trying out the unfamiliar word, hoping it would bring her some comfort. In truth, he didn't fully understand everything she was saying – was she talking about when he'd been sent to Earth as a baby? Was Raditz sent to some distant planet too when he was little? But it didn't really matter, all he wanted to do was comfort her, ease her pain. He could see in her eyes, in her voice, that she truly loved him without question and he wanted to give that back to her somehow.

After some time, Gine calmed down. Slowly her sobbing stopped and her breathing began to become more even. But she still clung to him, breathing him in, eyes closed as she remembered the day he was born.

The doctor had handed him to her, naked and wailing like he was trying to tell them something – maybe that there world was about to end? – and she'd cradled him in her arms, soothing him. His skin was so soft and warm, just like Raditz's had been, and his tail brushed against her gently. She'd knelt into him, breathing deeply. He still smelled mostly like her, but underneath her own scent was something else, something new and different – him. Eyes shut tight and nose pressed into his shirt, she focused on that scent, imagining that they were still in that dark, sterile room, that instead of him being taken away and placed in an incubator where she would only see him a few more times before he was sent to Earth, she was leaving with him, taking him to their little house where she'd already set up a place for him to sleep next to her. Bardock and Raditz would come home from their missions, and they would all live together, happy and safe, her perfect little family.

It was a sad fantasy that would haunt her for the rest of eternity in this place where she was clearly being punished, regardless of what anyone said. But, she thought to herself as she clung to her newfound son, his cheek resting gently against her head, maybe, just maybe, some god had had mercy on her and thought to give her a little respite, a small reward, for…something.

Maybe she was a good person after all.


End file.
